Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device setting apparatus, a storage storing a device setting program, and a method for sharing information among a plurality of device setting apparatuses.
Priority is claimed on Japanese Patent Application No. 2014-021293, filed Feb. 6, 2014, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Description of Related Art
In a plant or a factory or the like (hereinafter, collectively referred to as a plant), a distributed control system (DCS), in which on-site devices (measuring instruments and actuators) referred to as field devices and control apparatuses to provide control thereof are connected via a communication means, has been implemented to achieve a high level of automated operation. In the plant, in which such a distributed control system is implemented, regular or non-regular maintenance of field devices is performed by a worker in terms of prevention of abnormal operation, maintenance of measuring accuracy, or the like.
As described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2011-86119 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2013-77197, it is often the case that maintenance of field devices is performed using a device setting apparatus such as a laptop or tablet computer and a personal digital assistant (PDA). The device setting apparatus can perform wired or wireless communication with the field devices, and has been installed with a dedicated tool (device setting adjustment tool) for performing setting and adjustment of the field devices. Specifically, during the maintenance of field devices, a worker operates the device setting apparatus to read and confirm device information (parameter) set in a target field device, and operates the device setting apparatus to set new device information to the field device.
Generally, since a plurality of field devices are installed in a plant, the maintenances of the field devices are performed parallel using a plurality of device setting apparatuses in order to achieve a shortening of maintenance time or the like. In each device setting apparatus, maintenance information (information including device information, setting information, operation history information, and the like) is generated based on information input from the field device during the maintenance. The maintenance information is related to the filed device, on which the maintenance is performed. When a plurality of device setting apparatuses is used, the maintenance information is not shared among these device setting apparatuses. Therefore, there are some cases where a redundant operation occurs, in which after one worker using one device setting apparatus has performed a maintenance operation to a field device, other worker performs a similar maintenance operation to the field device.
In order to avoid such a redundant operation, nowadays, a dedicated shared server for managing the maintenance information in an integrated fashion is installed, and the maintenance information stored in the shared server is transmitted to each device setting apparatus, thereby, the maintenance information is shared. Specifically, each device setting apparatus is connected to a network between an interval of the maintenance operations by night or the like, each device setting apparatus uploads maintenance information generated in each device setting apparatus to the shared server via the network, and each device setting apparatus downloads maintenance information generated in other device setting apparatuses.
However, in order to operate such an operation sharing the maintenance information, a worker is required to search maintenance information related to a device setting apparatus other than a device setting apparatus used by himself among large quantities of maintenance information uploaded to the shared server, and to select and download the searched maintenance information. Therefore, the operation for sharing maintenance information places a burden on a worker.
In addition, the operation for providing the dedicated shared server and sharing maintenance information, not only places a burden on a worker, but also causes cost increase due to the installation of the shared server.
Such a situation is not limited to a case where the sharing of maintenance information is performed, but occurs when information stored in each device setting apparatus is shared among all device setting apparatuses regardless of the kind of information.